A Connection for All Ages: Enabling the Benefits of High-Speed Internet Access for Older Adults

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Recent surveys show that many older adults do not have a high-speed Internet connection at home. This is a problem in today’s digital world because high-speed connectivity enables a new generation of applications and services that promise vast opportunities and benefits.

This Insight on the Issues describes how high-speed Internet connectivity can help support the needs and ambitions of older adults in five broad, interrelated impact areas: personal fulfillment, health preservation, social connectedness, functional capability and activity, and caregiver support. It also reviews recommendations made by the Federal Communications Commission three years ago in the National Broadband Plan to get more older adults connected. The review finds that the FCC’s implementation progress so far has been slow and uncertain.